Group objects to Pinehills' water request
A request to pump more water out of the ground to keep The Pinehills green is opposed by a local environmental organization, which says the upscale development already has enough.
The Pinehills, an empty-nester community on more than 3,000 acres, has filed an application with the state to draw an additional 68 million gallons of water a year for use in its ''common areas" -- water for the grass, shrubs, trees, and other plantings necessary to landscape a development that offers its residents ''viewscape" in place of large private lots. Pinehills already has a permit from the state to draw 168 million gallons water a year for residents' drinking and household use.
While the massive development is widely praised for its environmental awareness, the new request is seen by some as excessive, given the need to preserve finite water resources.
''We can't support that kind of water use," said Mettie Whipple, president of the Eel River Watershed Association. ''We don't have enough water for everybody all over Plymouth to water their gardens." About 1,000 acres of The Pinehills falls within the Eel River watershed.
Water management has become an important issue for regional environmentalists, who say that taking too much water for human use is bad for the rare plant and animal species that depend on Plymouth's pine barrens and coastal plain ponds, an environment described as ''some of the most significant natural ecosystems in the Northeastern United States" by the Nature Conservancy.
In a letter on behalf of the Eel River Watershed Association to Leslie O'Shea of the southeast regional office of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Whipple wrote that managing Plymouth's water resources is critical for the 67 listed rare species found in Plymouth. ''Most of them depend on the coastal plain ponds, rivers, and wetland areas for their continued existence," she wrote.
The Pinehills -- acting on advice from its water use consultant, Horsley Witten Group -- filed its request for an additional 68 million gallons of nonpotable water with the environmental protection department. Providing this separate nonpotable water supply would be more efficient than running irrigation lines from its current wells, Pinehills president John Judge said. And it would be less expensive to operate since it would not have to be tested for fitness for human drinking standards.
The Pinehills is currently using far less water than its permit allows, but only about 800 houses are built and occupied -- roughly one quarter of the planned community's permitted total. Each of the development's two golf clubs has its own water system.
The Pinehills, whose development has been closely monitored environmentally from its inception, created its own private water and sewer companies ''at great expense," rather than rely on less-costly septic systems to help protect the environment, Judge said.
While the new water capacity will be used for landscaping, the development also practices ''greenscaping" -- using native, drought-resistant plants rather than plants, like grass, that require a lot of water to survive. Tall fescue grass, which needs less water, is being planted along some roadsides, and native low bush blueberry is being transplanted for use around houses. The company recently purchased a mechanical scoop that will aid in transplanting the native blueberry bushes, Judge said. It built a stone wall at the entrance to the new Ryecroft neighborhood to minimize the need for watering.
Judge said that Pinehills' water consultant, Horsley Whitten, does ''not believe that water for the common-use irrigation system would in any way impact the aquifer."
But Whipple contends that state and regional planners should look not only at current demands on Plymouth's aquifer, the largest subterranean source of drinking water in the state, but at future needs. The state calculates water allowances for municipalities on a per-person allowance, ranging from 80 gallons per day to 65 in ''stressed" areas. ''That includes washing your car, doing your laundry," and outside watering, she said.
The principle of a per-person allowance recognizes that human use has to be capped to protect resources for the future and the health of the environment, she said.
Since The Pinehills is not using up its current per-person allotment, she said, it could divert some of that to common areas. ''They have to make choices," Whipple said. The Pinehills used 50.63 gallons per person last year, an admirably low number.
Environmentalists say The Pinehills should serve as an example of how an environmentally friendly company can make its property beautiful without using a lot of water. ''It would send an important message across the region," Whipple wrote in her letter to the state, ''if the landscape practices at Pinehills were a model of Greenscapes ideals."
Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@gmail.com. 
